The Sydney Swans are a professional Australian rules football club based in Sydney, New South Wales. The men's team competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), and the women's team in the AFL Women's (AFLW). The Swans also field a reserves men's team in the Victorian Football League (VFL). The Sydney Swans Academy, consisting of the club's best junior development signings, contests Division 2 of the men's and women's underage national championships and the Talent League.
Stadium Australia, commercially known as Accor Stadium, is a multi-purpose stadium located in Sydney Olympic Park, a suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The stadium, which is sometimes referred to as Sydney Olympic Stadium, Homebush Stadium or simply the Olympic Stadium, was completed in March 1999 at a cost of A$690 million to host the 2000 Summer Olympics. The Stadium was leased by a private company, the Stadium Australia Group, until the Stadium was sold back to the NSW Government on 1 June 2016 after NSW Premier Michael Baird announced the Stadium was to be redeveloped as a world-class rectangular stadium. The Stadium is owned by Venues NSW on behalf of the NSW Government.
Australian rules football has been played continuously in the Australian Capital Territory since 1911 and was the most popular football code in the nation's capital Canberra between 1978 and 1982. The current governing body is AFL Canberra founded 1922, while the development body is AFL NSW/ACT established in 1999.
In New South Wales, Australian rules football dates back to the colonial era in 1866, with organised competitions being continuous since the 1880s. Today, it is popular in several regions of the state, including areas near the Victorian and South Australian borders—in the Riverina, Broken Hill, and South Coast. These areas form part of an Australian cultural divide described as the Barassi Line. To the east of the line, it is known as "AFL", named after the elite Australian Football League competition. AFL NSW/ACT is the main development body, and includes the Australian Capital Territory.
Rivalries in the Australian Football League exist between many teams, most of which typically draw large crowds and interest regardless of both teams' positions on the ladder. The AFL encourages the building of such rivalries, as a method of increasing publicity for the league, to the point of designating one round each year as "Rivalry Round" when many of these match-ups are held on the one weekend. Whilst some rivalries, such as between teams from adjacent areas, are still strong, the designation of an entire round of fixtures as a Rivalry Round is often criticised due to some arbitrary match-ups, or ignoring stronger and more recent rivalries.
The Greater Western Sydney Giants are a professional Australian rules football team based in Sydney Olympic Park which represents the Greater Western Sydney region of New South Wales and Canberra in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT).
Sydney Showground Stadium is a sports and events stadium located at the Sydney Showground in Sydney Olympic Park, a suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It hosted the baseball events for the 2000 Summer Olympics. The Showground, including the stadium, is operated by the Royal Agricultural Society of NSW (RAS), under lease from the New South Wales Government.
The 2012 AFL season was the 116th season of the Australian Football League (AFL), the highest level senior Australian rules football competition in Australia, which was known as the Victorian Football League until 1989.
Tomas Bugg is a former professional Australian rules footballer who played for the Greater Western Sydney and Melbourne Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). He s also an entrepreneur, and the co-founder and CEO of the social media technology firm ZOOZ Group. A defender, 1.85 metres tall and weighing 84 kilograms (185 lb), Bugg was capable of playing on both the half-back line and as a midfielder. He entered top level football early when he joined the Gippsland Power in the TAC Cup as a bottom-aged player. In addition to representing Victoria in both the under 16 and under 18 championships. His performances as a junior, saw him be one of twelve players who signed with the Greater Western Sydney Giants as an underage recruit in 2010. He made his AFL debut in the 2012 season and earned a Rising Star nomination. After spending four seasons with Greater Western Sydney, playing sixty-five matches, he was traded to the Melbourne Football Club during the 2015 trade period. During his time in the AFL, he earned the reputation as being "one of the best nigglers in the competition". Prior to the beginning of the 2019 premiership season, he informed the Carlton Football Club of his decision to step away from AFL football, effective immediately.
The Sydney Derby is a local derby contested between two of the Australian A-League Men's Sydney-based clubs, Sydney FC and Western Sydney Wanderers. Contested for the first time on 20 October 2012, historical, cultural and sporting factors have resulted in the derby being considered one of Australian sport's biggest club games, and one of the biggest rivalries in the A-League Men. Crowd sentiment at derby matches has been said by Alessandro Del Piero to produce atmosphere and emotions similar to those in Europe, while Wanderers player Mateo Poljak stated that the sixth Sydney Derby had an atmosphere that was the best he had experienced as a player.
The Australian Football League registered the name Western Sydney Football Club Ltd with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission in January 2008. On 12 March 2008 the AFL received unanimous support from the existing 16 clubs for two expansion teams to enter the league, one of which was to be based in western Sydney. The Western Sydney working party met on 22 July to discuss player rules and draft concessions.
The Greater Western Sydney Giants' 2015 season was its 4th season in the Australian Football League (AFL).
Caleb Marchbank is a professional Australian rules footballer playing for the Carlton Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). He was recruited by Greater Western Sydney with their second selection and sixth overall in the 2014 national draft. He made his debut in the fifty-six point loss against North Melbourne at Spotless Stadium in round 12, 2015. In September 2016, Marchbank requested a trade from Greater Western Sydney and nominated Carlton as his preferred club. He was officially traded to Carlton in October.
The 2016 AFL season was the 120th season of the Australian Football League (AFL), the highest level senior Australian rules football competition in Australia, which was known as the Victorian Football League until 1989.
The 2016 Australian Football League finals series was the 120th annual edition of the VFL/AFL final series, the Australian rules football tournament staged to determine the winner of the 2016 AFL Premiership Season. The series ran over four weekends in September and October 2016, culminating with the 2016 AFL Grand Final, between the Sydney Swans and the Western Bulldogs at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on 1 October 2016. The Western Bulldogs defeated the Sydney Swans by 22 points to end the Western Bulldogs 62-year premiership drought, becoming the first team in AFL history to win the premiership from seventh place.
The 2017 AFL season was the 121st season of the Australian Football League (AFL), the highest level senior men's Australian rules football competition in Australia, which was known as the Victorian Football League until 1989. The season featured eighteen clubs, ran from 23 March until 30 September, and comprised a 22-game home-and-away season followed by a finals series featuring the top eight clubs.
The 2017 AFL Women's season was the inaugural season of the AFL Women's (AFLW) competition, the highest-level senior women's Australian rules football competition in Australia. The season ran from 3 February to 25 March, comprising a seven-round home-and-away season followed by a grand final contested by the top two clubs. Eight Australian Football League (AFL) clubs featured in the inaugural season: Adelaide, Brisbane, Carlton, Collingwood, Fremantle, Greater Western Sydney, Melbourne and the Western Bulldogs.
Will Setterfield is a professional Australian rules footballer playing for the Essendon Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). He was drafted by Greater Western Sydney with their second selection and fifth overall in the 2016 national draft, and was considered by the media to be one of the most complete midfielders in his draft year. He made his debut in the nineteen point loss to Richmond at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in round nineteen of the 2017 season. Setterfield also played for Carlton between 2019 and 2022.
The 2016 AFL First Preliminary Final was an Australian rules football match contested between the Greater Western Sydney Giants and Western Bulldogs at Spotless Stadium on 24 September 2016. It was staged as part of the 2016 AFL finals series to determine which of the two clubs would qualify for that season's Grand Final.
The Greater Western Sydney Giants–Western Bulldogs rivalry is an Australian Rules football (AFL) rivalry between the Greater Western Sydney Giants and the Western Bulldogs.
Sydney Swans 18 wins
GWS Giants 10 wins
